There were at least four through-packing cyclists from other countries there. One of them went to make coffee away from site so as not to disturb the rest of us. The others got up one by one and packed. Eventually they all departed for their own adventures.
I set up to feed the boys and slowly got them up. I made oatmeal for the boys and fixed myself a can of cold brew coffee. I had made some of the dehydrated stuff too.
A camper, about my boys’ age, who we had seen around the campground passed through looking for us and the three of them went off to play. Apparently his family goes to the campground every year. The boys returned several times as I was breaking down our camp and I had them stuff their sleeping bags and roll up the tent.
Once I had finished packing the GSD, my e-cargo bike, I took the boys over to say hi to their new companion’s family. Then we rode down The Cross Marin Trail past the park offices and made a brief stop in Tocaloma where we looked at the bridge. A bit later, when we rode over Platform Bridge, I saw some interesting geology in the road cut.
On the way to Point Reyes Station, I noted that getting to Highway 1 was a real pain along this section of road because of the slight rise at the highway and the relative amount of traffic for a major holiday. However, once we got to Point Reyes Station things improved.
We went to the Station House for a delicious lunch. On the way to the grocery store we happened upon the boys’ playmate from the campground with his family. I thought it was really funny and wonderful that we kept bumping into him.
A short while later we headed out to Olema where I had some coffee. I was really irritated at the timing, the traffic, managing children and other stuff. However, I was able to manage.
From Olema we headed north on Highway 1 to Five Brooks, which involved a nearly 500 foot climb. It was difficult but the traffic was lighter than expected. I took a short break at the horse staging area and later we spent about 20 minutes at the Five Brooks parking lot. We found an interesting rock there which I suspected was granite but could have been greywacke.
We headed into the forests of Point Reyes then, taking the Stewart Trail through a dense forest of Douglas fir up the side of Inverness Ridge. The start was easy enough – just a Creekside climb – but it switched back a couple of times and morphed into a dense and foggy forest.
When we entered the flat spot on the top of the ridge there was a plaque for the site, known as Fir Top the highest point along that section of the ridge. I noted that the location is less of a mountain and more of a lump. However, at 1,324 feet it was by far the highest point in our trip.
The forest is dense there and the fog was so moist it was practically raining in some places. One of my sons was actually scared because the forest was a little spooky. We took a break, took pictures and had a small picnic
After that, we descended about 1000 feet – it was hard. At the turn off for Glenn Camp, I noted that that path was somewhat level. From there we descended again to the coast. The mist got a little better but sunset was approaching.
When we started heading into the campground, the ocean was spectacular. We saw a skunk and a bunch of elk. I noted that there are eight sites at Wildcat Camp and only six were occupied.
I tried to get us oriented but right as the tent got done it started raining, which cut much of the fun for the evening short.
When the rain started going away, I dried the tarps out and put everything away and got the boys ready for bed. I had set the site up with the picnic table on one side and the bike on the other. The tarps had provided an area with a seating space in front of the tent. After the boys wound down, I spoke to some of the campers.
This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.
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